“As head of state, the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American Edward Snowden so that he can live (without) ... persecution from the empire,” Maduro said, referring to the United States.

He made the offer during a speech marking the anniversary of Venezuela's independence. It was not immediately clear if there were any conditions to Venezuela's offer.

In Nicaragua, Ortega said he was willing to make the same offer “if circumstances allow it.” Ortega didn't say what the right circumstances would be when he spoke during a speech in Managua.

He said the Nicaraguan embassy in Moscow received Snowden's application for asylum and that it is studying the request.

“We have the sovereign right to help a person who felt remorse after finding out how the United States was using technology to spy on the whole world, and especially its European allies,” Ortega said.

Earlier Friday, secret-spilling website WikiLeaks said Snowden had put in asylum applications to six new countries.

Snowden is believed to be stuck in a Moscow airport transit area and has already sought asylum from more than 20 countries.

President Barack Obama has publicly displayed a relaxed attitude toward Snowden's movements, saying he wouldn't be “scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker.”

But WikiLeaks said in a message posted to Twitter on Friday that it had not planned on identifying the six new countries involved “due to attempted U.S. interference.”

The message appeared to be an allusion to the drama surrounding the flight of Bolivian President Evo Morales, whose plane was recently rerouted to Austria over suspicions Snowden was aboard. U.S. officials wouldn't directly answer questions about whether they had any information leading them to believe that Snowden was on Morales' plane.